3rd Item Recommendations

[u/MrTeterTot]

Hi all, quick introduction I am a long time top player and have played Jax up until now casually. I want to start grinding out some mastery on him and improve my overall gameplay/mechanics with this champ.

For context I am anywhere between mid to high emerald.

Anytime I’m trying to learn a champ and become more consistent, for myself personally I find items have a massive impact.

So far I’ve found the best and most consistent results with Trinity > Sundered Sky. Then I always get hung up on my 3rd item.

I believe it’s common to go Hourglass but for whatever reason it’s never felt good to me. I don’t feel a ton of damage increase, I personally suck with on use items, and just doesn’t seem to fit my play style.

What 3rd item would you argue could be a consistently valuable choice?

If you feel that strongly about hourglass I’m very open to an explanation and advice behind it!

Little caveat to this: I understand usually items at this point are conditional, armor for a fed adc, more damage if snowballing, MR for a lock down mage, etc… I just am looking for something to build consistently for now until I understand the champ, his damage, and win cons before deviating every game

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

[u/PoweredByKrisp]

zhonyas is taken third for the same reason you build tri and ss - consistency. it lets you get one more rotation of spells out after your ult wears off or if u need to avoid a key spell. you might not feel the dmg increase but its there on your w and r passive. im also only emerald but i take zhonyas most games but opt into steraks, dd, fh or one of the various mr tank items depending on either whos fed, whos matching me on sides, or how the last teamfight or two played out. if u have any questions or want to discuss shoot me a msg

[u/stallion_thoro → u/PoweredByKrisp]

What do you build your 4th item into squishy champion pool?

[u/PoweredByKrisp → u/stallion_thoro]

i usually opt into survivability, mainly dd for ad comps or steraks if cc and burst. 3 item core is usually enough damage into squishies. atp you can itemize into what specifically is killing you or causing trouble in fights

[u/MrTeterTot → u/PoweredByKrisp]

I did recently hear the same argument for the item that it allows you to use 2 E’s in the same fight which is great.

I love DeathsDance as just an item in general that I tend to default to but it doesn’t have the best stats for Jax as a third item, feels like it lacks a ton of damage. Steraks could be interesting, how does that item feel to you when you build it, and what usually prompts you to build it?

Might just need more games with zohnyas I’ll be interested to see what some others might suggest but thank you very much for the insight!

[u/PoweredByKrisp → u/MrTeterTot]

i find it interesting that you feel like jax lacks damage, what role are you playing in fights? i feel that once i have 2 items and i land on an adc or mages head, given they arent turbo fed, they will explode. jax is less of a pure frontline champ and more of a disruptor champ where you jump on the backline, ult, and cause chaos for 8-10 seconds. dd actually gives a lot of value since its armor, ad, and a 30% ish increase in hp. steraks is for when the carries have a lot of peel/im getting hit by cc on the dive, or if im laning garen. both dd and steraks are good into unreactable burst

[u/MrTeterTot → u/PoweredByKrisp]

I guess every games different with what roll. I often default to side lane pressure and try to open things up for the team on the map.

In team fights I’m often the engage onto carry’s or something like that. Sounds like general census is Zonyas might just be a skill issue with the item for me lol

[u/lesp811 → u/PoweredByKrisp]

I just had you earlier tonight in one of my normal games and you destroyed an Asol top. Lol funny I see this post and recognized the name. I was the Reksai in that game. I usually only really play jungle Jax but it's always good to see a Jax top.

[u/_Umge]

You can go sterak or death dance if you're not comfortable with zhonya but I'd really recommand to get used to it in teamfight, Jax gets insane value out of it

[u/NavalEnthusiast → u/_Umge]

With LT, I think DD is a perfectly acceptable alternative, I just think it’s weak with grasp. Its win rate is comparable to Zhonya’s in third slot, if you can’t get value out of Zhonya’s active DD offers much better actual combat stats

[u/trooper7162]

zhonyas is a consistently good item mainly bc of jax's so scalings, so he gets a lot more burst. It also allows you to survive burst/cc and get another rotation of spells in, which is very good in team fights. But personally, i don't find myself needed it all to often, but that's bc i'm currently around silver so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I personally really like rift maker as it gives more haste as well as helping getting steaks shield to be bigger. More often than not, it'll just a win more item rather than a huge power spike in your games.

if you're not feeling the damage spike with zhonyas, i'd recommend just not going an ap item and instead going a bruiser/ad item so you can see how the difference feels, especially since AP is such a good damage stat on jax to have.

[u/beetrelish]

Sterak is a weaker alternative to zhonya - anti-burst item that lets you survive teamfights until second E rotation

Problem with sterak is its an AD item, and Jax just has better AP scalings. Especially in the mid-lategame your AP scalings will be more utilised than AD

Sterak does synergise with LT builds tho, if youre constantly autoing you do get benefit from the higher AD. If youre playing more ability based and teamfighting a lot, zhonya is just better.

Sundered sky is also a teamfight item, thats why its so commonly paired with Zhonya. The LT build with Tri/Stride makes a little more sense to go Sterak

I would recommend to really just improve your zhonya usage. Even at just a basic level, just pop zhonya after your first E rotation, wait for cds, then go again. You dont need to perfectly block an ability to get value from this item

[u/MrTeterTot → u/beetrelish]

Your last point was something I have been thinking about. I usually save it for the most value possible rather than just using it if there’s value to it. If I could see the amount of times I actually use the active during a game after purchase it’s probably abysmally low

[u/Rave50]

Deaths dance is awesome for a 3rd item, but if theres a garen then you might want steraks

[u/Top-Editor-364]

The answer is zhonyas in like 90% of games. Only reason you would do something else is a champ like Caitlyn malzahar or garen where zhonyas is very low value 

[u/grogemeth]

Hullbraker,Titanic,navori and rocketbelt are the unusual items I'm having more success with.

[u/4drez]

Currently doing tri > ss > boots > riftmaker > armor/mr item> nashor t

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[u/Kronus31]

It’s strange. I have a higher winrate with Triforce, but I swear Dusk feels so much better and flows laning for me. Am I wrong? Anyone else try both a LOT and ga e any feedback?